CAMBRIDGE — There’s more to the demolition Dover House than objecting to a heritage designation imposed by city council, says a spokesperson for Dover Flour Mills.

“There are a whole bunch of issues coming together, but nobody seems to be concerned about traffic and truck parking in front of Dover Flour,” said Sam Head, a planner hired by Parrish & Heimbecker Ltd., the company owns Dover Flour Mills on King Street, near Fountain Street.

The company has appealed Cambridge council’s June decision designating the century-old Dover House under the Ontario Heritage Act, a move that halts demolition.

The company wants to bulldoze the original red-brick Dover House beside the mill to provide more parking and manoeuvring space for transport trucks. Today, trucks have to back across traffic to reach loading docks, or park on the street.

Parrish & Heimbecker also wants to fill in an old mill race under the flour mill, which dates back to 1807.

At the same time as council stalled demolition of the house, the Region of Waterloo is proposing widening King Street up to the front steps of the historic house as part of building a roundabout at King and Fountain streets. By this time next year, traffic will be using a new Kitchener-Cambridge bridge over the Grand River at Kossuth Road, which will likely bring more traffic down Fountain Street, Head said.

The city has started a study into the future of a failing dam just upstream of the mill in the Speed River. And there’s talk of a hotel-condominium project across from Dover Flour, which includes restoring and reusing the historic Preston Springs Gardens hotel overlooking the crossroads.

Head wants the city to arrange a meeting between all parties involved in the multiple studies and traffic concerns around the flour mill.

“It’s premature to talk about designation about the house when we don’t know what all the other issues are,” Head said.

The Ontario Heritage Review Board plans a pre-hearing Jan. 9 in Cambridge to talk about how the appeal might unfold.

“Between now and then the city is open to discussing any options for settlement,” said Wayne Meagher, assistant city solicitor.

“We have had some discussion, and we’re continuing those.”

A hearing has been scheduled for May 7 and May 8 in council chambers.

The conservation board is like an Ontario Municipal Board for history. But unlike the municipal board, which reviews development decisions, the conservation board’s ruling can’t force the city to follow its ruling.

Usually, however, cities have “due respect” for a board decision, said Janet Babcock, Cambridge planning commissioner.